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Apple’s spaceship campus nears completion in new drone videos

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Apple is set to move in next year.
Apple is set to move in next year.
Photo: Duncan Sinfield

Construction on Apple’s spaceship campus is finally coming closer to an end. The latest batch of drone videos reveal the construction site now has fewer cranes and a lot more trees.

Apple pushed back the move in date to mid-2017 and it looks like there’s still some serious work to be done. The main spaceship building still isn’t completed and the tunnel to the garage still needs to be covered in dirt.

Take a look at all the new details:

Pocket-size light packs studio power for your iPhone shoot

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Palm-size studio lighting by Lume Cube just got smaller with the new Life Lite.
Palm-size studio lighting by Lume Cube just got smaller with the new Life Lite.
Photo: Lume Cube

For all the magical powers coded and wired into the iPhone camera, it can’t rise to every challenge. You still need light to make a decent photograph and good light can be as fleeting as the moments you are trying to capture.

But what if you could put good light into your pocket and pull it out when you need it?

The makers of the popular Lume Cube have created a nifty but powerful light called Life Lite, ideal for mobile photographers who want to keep shooting even as darkness closes in.

2016 MacBook Pro loses the iconic startup chime

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The "chime" sound effect has long been part of macOS.
Photo: Apple

Physical function keys on the Mac and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the iPhone aren’t the only casualties of 2016. According to eagle-eyed (eagle-eared?) reporters, the new MacBook Pro jettisons the iconic F-sharp sound Apple uses to show a Mac is booting up.

The reason does, we admit, make sense — but it’s still sad to see a piece of Apple history join that great Mac museum in the sky.

This app will transform your tedious daily routine [Deals]

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Pagico transforms the way you manage tasks and projects by organizing them into an interactive flowchart.
Pagico transforms the way you manage tasks and projects by organizing them into an interactive flowchart.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Try as we might, staying on top of the many daily tasks and long term projects can be a serious challenge. Some might chalk it up to the number of distractions that come with the internet age, but it could just be a matter of visualizing differently. Pagico 8 adopts a unique and surprisingly effective approach to managing tasks and notes, arranging everything into pleasant, interactive flowcharts. And right now you can get a copy of Pagico 8 for just $19 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Jony Ive: Thinking different is easy

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Jony Ive
Jony Ive sheds (a bit of) light on the new MacBook Pro's creation story.
Photo: Vanity Fair/YouTube

A new interview with Jony Ive sheds light on his team’s thought process as they created the new MacBook Pro and its innovative Touch Bar.

Ive addresses the history of the Touch Bar project, touches on his rationale for ruling out a touchscreen Mac, and explains why thinking different is easy — but doing so is only a small part of the innovation battle.

Is the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar a touchscreen replacement? [Friday Night Fights]

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fnf
Would you prefer a touchscreen?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s new MacBook Pro has arrived with its exciting OLED Touch Bar, giving users a brand new way to interact with macOS. It’s the closest we’ll get to a touchscreen on a Mac — at least for the foreseeable future — but is it a suitable replacement?

Friday Night Fights bugThe Touch Bar is already supported by all of Apple’s own apps, and the company says developers are quickly adapting their own software for it. It’s only going to get more useful over time, but would a Mac touchscreen be even better?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over the Touch Bar and whether it can help macOS users forget all about touchscreen computers.

PinOut, Civilization VI and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend everyone!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

With Apple’s earnings call and Thursday’s Mac event, there was plenty of serious business in the world of Apple this week. That’s why we’re choosing an all-game lineup for this “Awesome Apps of the Week” installment.

Plus, when the titles are this good, it’s hard to ignore them! Check out our picks below.

Get personal soundtracks created by AI and more [Week’s Newest Deals]

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Let an AI compose music specifically designed to help you work, relax or sleep.
Let an AI compose music specifically designed to help you work, relax or sleep.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Every week brings us closer to the future (don’t think too hard about that), and this week it shows in the Cult of Mac Store. Topping the bill of our latest deals is a service that uses artificial intelligence to generate a personal soundtrack for productivity and rest, complemented by a pair of top notch headphones, and all of that on top of a 2 year VPN subscription for protected, anonymous browsing. Read on for more details:

Get a sensible smartwatch, a versatile VPN and more [Week’s Best Deals]

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Get App notifications, track your phone's location and more with this next-level watch
Get App notifications, track your phone's location and more with this next-level watch
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

With the new week comes a new shipment of deals on awesome gear and gadgets at the Cult of Mac Store. This round, we’ve got a super sensible take on the smartwatch, a versatile virtual assistant, an easy-to-use VPN client, and over a day’s worth of lessons in web development. Each is worth checking out and discounted by well over half off — read on for more details:

The pros and cons of Apple’s new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, this week on The CultCast

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The reviews are in on Apple's new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar...
The reviews are in on Apple's new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar...
Photo: @YSR50

This week on The CultCast: Happy? Disappointed? Downright pissed off? Don’t miss our “Hello Again” Mac event reactions! Plus: Pros and cons of Apple’s new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar; and the two big omissions in Apple TV’s new TV app.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off any hosting plan.

Why freemium apps suck for everyone (and how Apple is killing paid apps)

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Only one of the top 200 grossing apps is a paid app
Paid apps are an endangered species: Only one of the 200 top-grossing apps on the App Store is a paid download.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

I work on an iPhone app called Reps & Sets as a hobby project in my spare time. This week, my partner and I came to the conclusion that there is no future for our app as a paid download, so we have reluctantly decided to make it free.

This was an incredibly tough call, because we have invested literally thousands of hours in developing our app over the years. Giving all that hard work away for free is heartbreaking. But we didn’t feel we had much choice.

Pull my finger: Some joker made a fart app for MacBook Pro’s new Touch Bar

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Touch Bar apps might get weird.
Touch Bar apps might get weird.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s magical new MacBook Pro hasn’t even shipped yet, but that hasn’t stopped one developer from creating the first Touch Bar fart app.

iOS developer Hung Truong churned out his new app, TouchFart, just hours after Apple released a new build of Xcode needed to make apps that support the new Touch Bar. Even though he hasn’t gotten to test it in a real-world scenario, you can watch TouchFart in action in a simulator.

Now is a great time to sell your old MacBook

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This guy spilled his coffee and then sold us his laptop.
This guy spilled his coffee and then sold us his laptop....
Photo: Pexels

With new MacBook Pro models just announced, it’s a great time to clear out your old laptop. Our MacBook buyback program will give you cash to upgrade.

You can still make money off your aging MacBook. Yeah, even those dusty old white ones from 2008. The buyback program will pay you cash for your Apple laptop, whether it’s the newest 15-inch MacBook Pro or a clunker you haven’t touched in five years.

The new MacBook Pro models look super sweeeeet, so it’s a great time to clear out old gear and pad your bank account so you can afford an upgrade.
The new machines are pricey, so you’ll need the extra cash.

Apple is officially done making displays

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The LG UltraFine 5K is the closest thing we'll get to an Apple Thunderbolt 3 display.
The LG UltraFine 5K is the closest thing we'll get to an Apple Thunderbolt 3 display.
Photo: Apple

The days of Apple making its own stand-alone displays for the Mac Mini and Mac Pro are dead.

Apple revealed a new 5K 27-inch Thunderbolt 3 display during its “Hello Again” keynote yesterday, only instead of being made by Apple, the company partnered with LG to create the monitor. And according to people who talked to Apple at the event, there are no plans to ever make an Apple display again.

$299 off Panasonic 4K HD TV, $278 off Canon EOS Rebel Bundle, and more [Deals]

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Daily Deals Roundup 10.28
Score huge savings on bundles for Amazon Echo Dot, PlayStation 4 and Canon EOS Rebel.
Photos: Amazon, Sony, Canon

Big-name brands are acting especially generous this week — we found deals on Panasonic, Sony and even KitchenAid products. eBay is back at it again with a new-and-improved PlayStation 4 bundle. Amazon’s cutting the price on its Echo smart home package. And Walmart is joining the fray with a major deal on a Panasonic 50-inch HD TV.

Read on for all the juicy details.

Apple defends skimpy MacBook Pro RAM

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The MacBook Pro has a special T1 chip inside.
The MacBook Pro has a special T1 chip inside.
Photo: Apple

Serious professionals hoping for tons of RAM on the new MacBook Pro are out of luck.

Apple decided to limit RAM options on its beautiful new machine to just 8GB or 16GB. That’s the same amount as the last MacBook Pro, which is more than enough for most consumers, but Apple claims adding more would be also be bad for pros.

Why new MacBook Pro took so long to make

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The new MacBook Pro has a bit of iOS inside.
The new MacBook Pro has a bit of iOS inside.
Photo: Apple

The technology behind the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro couldn’t have been possible if Apple didn’t already make iOS devices, according to Apple’s VP of Software engineering, Craig Federighi.

After helping reveal the new MacBook Pro during Apple’s “Hello Again” keynote, Federighi explained to YouTuber Marques Brownlee that even though Touch Bar seems like an obvious evolution, Apple didn’t want to just slap a touchscreen on the MacBook and call it good. So the company spent years making sure Touch Bar would be something you’ll want to use immediately.

How to get a discount on the new MacBook Pro

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touchbar
The new MacBook Pro isn't wallet-friendly.
Photo: Apple

The new MacBook Pro is the most gorgeous laptop Apple’s ever made. It’s thin, powerful and touchable. There’s just one big problem: It’s expensive as f***!

Dropping two grand on a new MacBook isn’t an easy decision for many Apple fans. But if you’re lusting after the new MacBook Pro and don’t have quite enough cash to foot the bill, there are a few ways you can get a lower price.

iCloud hacker gets 18 months in jail for stealing nudes

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Hacker who tried to extort Apple for $100k is spared prison
Ryan Collins has been sentenced for his role in "Celebgate."
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

One of the iCloud hackers behind 2014’s “Celebgate” scandal has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. Ryan Collins helped break into celebrity iCloud accounts and steal private photos, which were later published online.

Enter to win two sets of Apple AirPods [Deals]

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AirPods
The second-best wireless headphones for iPhone.
Photo: Apple

iPhone 7 made it official: When it comes to portable music, wires are out and Bluetooth is in. If you’re wondering how or when you’ll make the switch, we’ve got an easy answer: Take your shot at winning a pair of brand new Apple AirPods for free at Cult of Mac Deals. Announced this week, the AirPods are bit delayed but we still have you covered!

MacBook Pro’s new Touch Bar is powered by iOS

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macbook pro touch bar
I bet you didn't know that!
Photo: Apple

One thing Apple didn’t tell us during its big MacBook Pro unveiling on Thursday is that its new machine runs iOS. However, it’s not quite the iOS you’re already used to.

Instead, Apple’s mobile operating system is there solely to power the MacBook Pro’s new OLED Touch Bar.

Here’s why Apple will never give MacBook a touchscreen

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macbook pro
The new MacBook Pro is stunner.
Photo: Apple

Desktop computers aren’t going away any decade soon. Not if Jony Ive and Phil Schiller have to say anything about it.

In an interview with Ive, Schiller and Magic Man Craig Federighi, Apple’s team of vets explain that they don’t plan to ever morph the iPad and Mac together to make a Frankenstein desktop tablet like the Surface Studio.

Apple’s TV app doesn’t work with the two best streaming services

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The TV app coralls all your favorite content.
The TV app coralls all your favorite content.
Photo: Apple

Netflix won’t be embracing Apple’s vision for the future of television.

Apple revealed its plan to own your TV screen today with a new app called TV. The new service aims to unify your TV experience on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV by taking you straight to content, but the two best streaming services won’t be available.